In only the last few decades, millions of people have died in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters, and thousands more have died as a result of terrorist attacks. Though a large number of lives could be saved by better overall disaster preparedness, many disasters cannot be predicted with enough certainty or with enough warning to take action before a disaster strikes. More efforts should be made to better anticipate and reduce the risk that disasters pose to human life, and these efforts should be part of an overall strategy that also seeks to reduce humanitarian, economic, and infrastructure impact, post-disaster.
Utility and communications service providers play an integral role in aiding humanitarian relief efforts by providing communications, power, and other resources vital to saving lives and restoring normalcy to an area impacted by a disaster. The faster a service provider can establish temporary resources, the greater the potential for saving and preserving the lives of survivors. Also, the faster a service provider can collect relevant data and assess damage to power lines, communication lines, cell towers, and other physical plants, the faster the service provider can devise a disaster recovery plan to restore permanent utility or communications service to the impacted area.